PRE-GAME RANT

Welcome one and all to Sewer Battle 2009. Who can forget those prophetic words Brian Burke once spat out upon having that soon-to-be-overpaid-bum Penner snaked out from under his nose in which he chastised Lowe for running the Oilers into the sewer. Well, welcome to the stink house, Brian! Watching the Oilers and Maple Leafs go at it should be like watching two bums fight over a half decomposed squirrel…. except where the squirrel has more fight left in it than the two bums. But hey, at least the Oilers stand a lot to gain if they finish dead last.

Currently, the Oilers are on a 7 game losing streak. The Leafs are hot and are currently on a 1-game winning streak! Ok, they are 2-4-1 in their last 7. If this one goes to OT and isn’t settled, Lowe and Burke should scrap it out, Thunderdome style. Two men enter, one man leave. Either way, I think there will be several happy Oiler fans.

Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Line-Up (subject to change)

TEAM COMPARISON

STATS

40

GP

39

14

W

15

17

L

20

9

OT

4

37

P

34

0.463

P%

0.436

2.8

G/G

2.72

3.42

GA/G

3.26

18.6

PP%

17.8

71.6

PK%

76.4

34

S/G

28.3

29.7

SA/G

31.9

50.5

FO%

46.6

GAME NOTES

– Ladislav Smid wasn’t at practice today. That’s because he did in fact hurt his hand in the fight versus Iginla. However, there is no word just yet if it’s anything to worry about.
– Steve Staios had the day off because he’s just that good.

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On a completely unrelated note… the final round of the NHL Arena Blog-Off is now on. By some miracle, and ridiculous amounts of flagrant cheating, Putting On The Foil is one of four finalists in this poll. And I know what Steve-O is thinking… where the hell is Lowetide? Focus, Steve-O!

Anywho, cast your votes at this link. The voting has started anew, with this new round. The winner of the poll gets ultimate supreme bragging rights in the blogging community, which comes with the added benefit of being able to bang any chicks you want. Since I’m pretty much married, and so is Trogdor, that leaves that prize to the one single writer here, Steve-O. If that doesn’t motivate you, I don’t know what will!

1ST PERIOD SUMMARY

19:07 – EDM – Brule from Jacques, Visnovsky
Brule carries the puck in with Horcoff heading to the net. Brule blasts a slapshot that goes top cheese.

Other Highlights
– Well, fans start off in a good mood, singing along and cheering with Paul Lorieau… we’ll see if that mood remains. And well, since probably at least half are Leafs fans, I’m not even sure what that means!
– Let’s go Oilers chants start off pretty audible early too, so hopefully the boys respond in kind.
– Brule swings behind the net but just can’t quite get the puck on his stick on what would have been a near wide open net for him.
– Gene Principe dwarfs Mike Comrie in an interview… I hope Gene is just really tall. Comrie doesn’t look so hot.
– several minutes in, the go Leafs go chants are pretty audible. They should really change that to “eh, oh, go Leafs go (get me a Pepsi)”.
– every time the go Leafs go chants start up, a chorus of boos drowns them out… nice. Seems to be a pretty lively crowd, too bad the players haven’t looked so lively yet.
– JDD makes a big, awkward looking, stand-up save on a hard Kaberle shot.

2ND PERIOD SUMMARY

10:05 – EDM – PP – O’Sullivan from Grebeshkov, Horcoff
The powerplay shows good movement (for once). O’Sullivan throws a backhand towards the slot for Brule, but it bounces off white and in the net. Hey, good to see him getting the bad bounces in his favor for once.

Other Highlights
– Penner is robbed by Toskala from the high slot. He puts a shot in low, but Toskala quickly kicks the leg out.
– Nilsson sets up Gilbert with a nice cross-seam pass to the dot to Toskala’s right. Gilbert gets off a hard shot, but Toskala is quick to get there.
– Pisani interview.. sounds pretty positive, and seems to be closer to returning than Comrie.
– Cogliano sets up Stortini with a pass. Stortini gets a decent shot on net and then charges through a d-man after the whistle, drawing a crowd.
– On the next shift, Cogliano throws a nice hit on White. Brown gushes a bit about how Cogliano plays like a more aggressive player on the 4th line.
– Deslauriers gets corked by a puck up high, then gets run over by 2 Oilers and a Leaf, losing the bucket. Good thing, as this is an instant stoppage, and if not for that, the Leafs may have got one on the wrap around.
– Jacques plows through Stajan in the neutral zone and Stajan went end over end.
– Nilsson and Gagner get a 2-on-1. Nilsson telegraphs pass, but gets a good shot off that Toskala just gets a piece of, and it rings off the post.
– Looks like the Oilers might have gotten away with one as Primeau takes a stick in the face.. presumably from an Oiler.
– Deslauriers seems to be handling the puck better lately.

3RD PERIOD SUMMARY

2:34 – EDM – PP – O’Sullivan from Gilbert
O’Sullivan manages to get through the Toronto defense as Gilbert hits him with a pass. He goes in alone on Toskala, pulling him to the side to open the wickets up. O’Sully slides the puck into the net.
16:00 – TOR – PP – Kessel unassisted
Kessel takes a shot, and then about 3 more in succession as Deslauriers kicks out the saves, but he just can’t do it all.

Other Highlights
– Nilsson gets tripped up, driving to the net and falls, slamming into the boards. Seems to be ok though, and he’ll stay out for the powerplay.
– Jacques CRUSHES Komisarek at the Oilers bench, just as the Komi got a shot off.
– Deslauriers makes a save on Ponikarovsky then robs him with the glove on the rebound.
– They just showed another mock PC vs. Mac commercial on the PPV, this time making fun of the Leafs and their “we’re the center of the hockey world” complex. Good stuff.
– Deslauriers makes a big save on a point shot by Komisarek through a lot of traffic. Deslauriers is on fire tonight.
– Kelly Buchberger just mentioned that he hopes his team can get Deslauriers the (s-word). However, he didn’t actually say “s-word”, literally.
– Jacques hits Komisarek again, and this time Komisarek drops them with him. Jacques gets off to a good start, throwing some good shots in. Looks like he even drew blood early *. Towards the end of the fight, Komi jerseys him and throws a couple shots at Jacques. Good scrap by Jacques. * – Courtesy of LNOF who is watching the Leafs feed… apparently he opened up an old cut.
– Fans are into this one, singing along to Stompin’ Tom.
– Kessel blasts one from far out that Grabovski deflects down through Gilberts legs and it rings hard off the post.
– O’Sullivan and Stone break in on a two on one, but somewhere behind the play, tripping penalties are called against both teams.
– A penalty is called on Visnovsky shortly after for a long 4-on-3
– In the dying 2 minutes, the Leafs rally big time, applying intense pressure. Deslauriers is a friggen wall in net, putting the force field up. He’s stopping pucks, he’s stopping bodies flopping on him. Nothing’s getting in the net.
– Stone curls one down the ice with the goalie pulled that has great draw weight on it, killing the pressure in the dying seconds and putting this one on ice.

POST-GAME RANT

Well this was a much better one. The Oil relied too much on Deslauriers. But he stood on his head, making 27 saves. Jacques also had a great game, drawing star number 3. He had 1 assist and 5 hits, and did some damage to Komisarek in a fight, after putting him on his can earlier in the night on a big hit.

Alas, the 7 game losing streak is over. Next game, against those godless savages tomorrow, at 6:00 on SNET.

Nice to see the boys happy again, nice to see them salute the fans too.

Happy new year everyone, I’ll be in downtown Halifax for New Years celebrations, and 1 to 4 hours ahead ringing in the new year before the rest of you so I’ll have a drink for you all to get you started (like you need any help in that department).

Just flipped it over to SJS/WAS – SJS leading 5-1. Two of their goals have come on penalty shots (Clowe & Thornton). That doesn’t happen very often – first time in franchise history – but I wonder when it last happened league wide (if ever).

Edit – got my answer – first time since 1982 a team has scored on 2 PS’s in an NHL game – 27 years ago.

Jut saw something interesting about the Oilers on NHL network. Dreger says that the following guys could be traded by the end of the year: Moreau, Staios, Souray, Cogliano and Nilsson. Most likely making room for what he said could be Eberle, MPS and Hall/ Seguin. Now its not just the oilers that are losing. Thought I’d let you all know that the Falcons have lost 16 games in a row, and the Stockton Thunder of the ECHL are the 3rd worst team. Clearly there is something wrong in this organization. Lets all hope that MPS, Eberle, Hall/ Seguin, Gagner, Penner, Hemsky, Lander, Rajala and all the other young oilers help this team. Now The Oilers struggles can truly be blamed on injuries, as so many good players have gone down. While I think they are a playoff team when healthy, i think they should take advantage of sucking and tank it. Remember the oilers suck because they have injuries. The Falcons suck because all of their good players are here. Playing a level higher than they should. The Falcons have a ton of ECHL guys on their team. The Thunder have guys that wouldn’t normally be there playing. So all the struggles can be blamed on something…..Very happy with the win. Pleae get another one tomorrow night against Calgary.

Also I wouldn’t worry about tonight’s win. The Leafs are a terrible team, and Toskola is the WORST goalie in the league right now. Once we play the Sharks, Coyotes, or anyone with a goalie that realizes his glove was meant for catching, we’ll resume our tanking ways.

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